User blog comment:Flia/Wiki design overhaul/@comment-775152-20111006173945

Yeah, coming up with a great design is tough, but I agree that we need to tackle this project. The main page is pretty... bleh. It works, but it's boring. We need a magazine cover: something that just pops and screams "Read me!"

I'm not so great with colors, but I have taken a few art classes in the past. I'm not saying I was good at them, but maybe I can offer a little input. Logically the colors to use for this wiki would be those of Sparda: Purple, plus its two component colors of red and blue. The problem with this scheme is that red, purple, and blue are complementary colors. Complementary colors are, by their nature, difficult to distinguish. If you write in blue on red or purple you'd give yourself eyestrain trying to read it. Same with purple on red or blue, etc. We'd have to use a contrasting color to stand out. If you check out my Sandbox page you can see how I solved the contrast problem by using yellow against blue. (technically orange is blue's contrasting color, but we can shift things a half step in either direction and usually be safe.) Red's contrasting color is green, unfortunately, so we should probably think about sticking with yellow for contrast. Using this logic, our color scheme would be predominantly purple, red, and blue, with yellow for accents.

On that note, I would have to say Dante's color scheme is red and white, not red and black. The series uses a lot of black, but it's more for the mood and background. If you look at Dante alone, there's very little black or dark grey on him. (Except for DMC2, but we can't let one game dictate for all of them.) Do this test: Go into MS Paint, take a red block, and stick a white bar on top of it. Doesn't that look like Dante? Elongate the block and squint a little if you have to. See? Dante! So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that we don't need to heavily feature black in the wiki. If we do need a dark color, we could get away with using a deep purple, a grey, or even a brown.

In summary; I'd suggest staying with a purple/red/blue scheme, but mix it up a bit and add yellow. Use a bright red, probably not the "firebrick" we're using right now. Go with a dark purple that can be substituted in for black, if you're absolutely against black or grey. Use a light blue in place of red on certain things, such as when writing on a red background. Finally, use a yellow sparingly, such as on a dark blue background and in places where we need a light color other than white.

As for the background picture, we'll probably be stuck with a promo image unless we want to find someone to draw/compose a special one for us.